OBSTRUCTED PROGRESS Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow and the Global Refugee Crisis
When searching for the possibility of life in space, astronomers and astrobiologists look for planets within a star’s circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ): the area where a planet is ‘just right’ – neither too close to nor too far from its star – to allow liquid water to exist on its surface. Because of this, the CHZ has earned the popular moniker ‘Goldilocks zone’. Beyond its scientific origins, the Goldilocks zone can serve as a metaphor in many areas of life – we all learn to create and exist in our own sorts of Goldilocks zones. Most of us are driven to change only when our comfort zones are disturbed – when a spouse is consistently too overbearing or distant, we may end a marriage; when a job is too stressful, or not challenging enough, we may update our resumes.
Within this analogy, then, when attempting to drive change, documentary makers must coax viewers out of their Goldilocks zones – bringing them either
